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U.S.A. K-12 Grade Championship

Taking a break from the “Elite” Grandmaster circuit, ICC sent Macauley Peterson to Orlando, Florida, to check out potential stars of the future at the National Scholastic K-12 Grade Championship.

Kids from all over the U.S.A. competed in sections based on grade level, some individually, but most on school teams of three or more players. And conspicuous among the regulars to the winners stage were Chess.FM commentators Joel Benjamin (ICC: MrHat), John Fedorowicz (ICC: bronxbattler), and Nick Defirmian (ICC: N-DeFirmian), who coached for New York private schools Columbia Grammar and Horace Mann.

You can check out Macauley's video and audio coverage at the Chess.FM blog by clicking here.

GibTelecom Blitz Qualifier Tournament 2009 on ICC!

The 2nd Gibtelecom Qualifier, held on the ICC on Saturday, December 13 saw nearly 400 players battling it out through two hotly-contested large swiss events for the coveted 8 spots for the finals.

And just like last year's inaugural event, again there's an all-titled line-up for the finals with (in ICC rating order): 1. IM Anton Kovalyov (Argentina), 2. GM Alexey Dreev (Russia), 3. FM Federico Perez Ponsa (Argentina), 4. IM Levon Atounian (USA), 5. GM Yuri Vovk (Ukraine), 6. IM Gaby Livshitz (Israel), 7. GM Mark Hebden (England), 8. GM Sergei Azarov (Belarus).

And in the finals, it was the young turks who prevailed over the veterans as 15-year-old FM Federico Perez Ponsa (Argentina) and 20-year-old GM Yuri Vovk (Ukraine) fought it out for the top prize, with the Ukrainian winning the tussle 3.5-2.5.

Prizes:

GM Yuri Vovk - Gibraltar package
FM Federico Perez Ponsa - USD $400
GM Mark Hebden - USD $150
IM Anton Kovalyov - USD $150

¤	1/4 FINAL	1/2 FINAL	FINAL
1 8	IM Anton Kovalyov (ARGENTINA, 3419) 5.0 GM Sergei Azarov (BELARUS, 2764) 3.0	IM Kovalyov 3.0 GM Vovk 5.0	GM Vovk 3.5 FM Ponsa 2.5
4 5	IM Levon Altounian (USA, 2945) 3.0 GM Yuri Vovk (UKRAINE, 2944) 5.0	IM Kovalyov 3.0 GM Vovk 5.0
2 7	GM Alexey Dreev (RUSSIA, 3250) 0.5 GM Mark Hebden (ENGLAND, 2779) 2.5	GM Hebden 2.5 FM Ponsa 3.5
3 6	FM Federico Perez Ponsa (ARGENTINA, 3163) 3.0 IM Gaby Livshitz (ISRAEL, 2930) 1.0	GM Hebden 2.5 FM Ponsa 3.5

Games in PGN

For more information regarding Gibtelecom 2009, please click here.

Kasparov in London

Check out the new Chess.FM blog for exclusive video footage of Garry Kasparov's visit last week to the London Chess Center to promote his new book, Kasparov vs. Karpov 1975-1985.

For over an hour, Kasparov signed copies of various books and posed for photos with customers, many of whom had lined up early to await his arrival. Afterwards, Kasparov spoke to Macauley Peterson of Chess.FM about his Great Predecessors series, K vs K 1975-1985, and future works in the pipeline for publishers Everyman. A video not to be missed!

Russian Woes and The Oldest Olympian

Have you read and viewed the latest two entries on Chess.FM's exciting new blog? Svidler on Russian's woes is a 4 min audio interview by Macauley Peterson, as the five-time Russian champion rebuts former World Champions Boris Spassky and Anatoly Karpov, who both raised concerns about the present state of the Russian Olympiad Team after failing to win a medal in Dresden.

Also not to be missed is The Oldest Olympian, as Jonathan Hilton talks to Olympiad legend Bill Hook of the British Virgin Islands, who at 83 was playing in his 17th Olympiad. In this 5 min video, Hook talks about his career and his best-selling memoir for New In Chess, Hooked on Chess.

Anyone can read the blog, but ONLY ICC members can exchange comments. Other features in the blog include Macauley Peterson's video reporting direct from Dresden, where he's given Chess.FM scoops on the Kamsky-Topalov match. There's also audio and video from Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Boris Gelfand (Israel) , Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Boris Spassky (France), Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Varuzhan Akobian (USA), Irina Krush (USA), Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez (Costa Rica), David Smerdon (Australia), Baadur Jobava (Georgia), Wang Hao and Hou Yifan (China), and Georg Meier (Germany).

En Passant - IM Bob Wade OBE (1921-2008)

ICC was saddened to hear that IM Robert “Bob” Wade OBE, regarded by many as the doyen of British Chess, died last week in London of complications from pneumonia, aged 87.

A three-time New Zealand champion, Bob was born in Dunedin, New Zealand 1921. Early in his career though, he emigrated to the U.K. and became British champion at Chester 1952, and again in 1970 at Coventry. He represented England in seven Olympiads between 1954 and 1972.

From 1969, Bob edited Batsford Chess Books - a famed series known to all that launched a publishing boom for chess material in English across the world. He also had an extensive chess library that was consulted by authors, journalists and top players alike - and he even supplied secret files on Taimanov, Larsen, Petrosian and Spassky for Bobby Fischer, on his road to capturing the world title in 1972 (and also his 1992 rematch with Spassky).

But arguable his greatest contribution was that in laying the foundations for the English chess explosion, as he and Leonard Barden successfully groomed a stable full of young players to top grandmaster level, resulting in England, during the mid-1980s being the main threat to the Soviet dominance in the game.

Bob was awarded his OBE by the Queen of Gt. Britain for his services to chess in 1979. A couple of Bob's acclaimed books as author include Soviet Chess and (in conjunction with Kevin O'Connell) The Games of Robert J. Fischer. Bob Wade: Tribute to a Chess Master was released last year highlighting his playing career. With a ready quick wit, he was one of the most likable and trusted personalities on the chess scene and will be sadly missed by all in the game.

In a special audio tribute on the Chess.FM blog, Macauley Peterson interviews GM Jon Speelman and IM Malcolm Pein on the life and times of Bob Wade OBE. To listen to this special tribute, click here. A fuller obituary of Bob's outstanding career and service to the game can be found at Mark Crowther's TWIC. Other obituaries come from Malcolm Pein at The Daily Telegraph, Leonard Barden at The Guardian. There's also an interesting 1999 interview with Bob Wade by John Saunders at the British Chess Magazine.

Olympiad Finale

The tiny chess-mad nation of Armenia clinched the gold medal at the 38th Olympiad in Dresden, as they successfully defended their title by retaining the Hamilton Russell Cup with a final score of 19/22.

But in a moment of high-drama at the Olympiad, a spectacular last round meltdown from Ukraine - - who were joint overnight leaders with Armenia - saw the silver medal going to Israel. Second seeds Ukraine were routed 3.5-0.5 by the USA in their worst Olympiad score ever, as the USA snatched the bronze medal on tiebreak from the 2004 Olympiad champions.

And for the third Olympiad running, top seeds Russia finished out of the medal hunt, despite sending their strongest-ever Olympiad squad.

In the women's section, Georgia rolled back the years to pull off a first victory since 1996 in Yerevan. Led by former world champion GM Maya Chiburdanidze - who also took the individual gold medal for her performance on top board - the Georgians clinched gold and the Gaprindashvili Cup on tiebreak, ahead of defending champions Ukraine, with the big surprise of a double joy for USA as they took bronze on tiebreak from top-seeds Russia and Poland.

You can read more about the Olympiad in ICC's new Chess.FM blog! Anyone can read the blog, but ONLY ICC members can login to leave comments. Other features in the blog include Macauley Peterson's video reporting direct from Dresden, where he's given Chess.FM scoops on the Kamsky-Topalov match. There's also audio and video from Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Boris Gelfand (Israel) , Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Boris Spassky (France), Fabiano Caruana (Italy), Varuzhan Akobian (USA), Irina Krush (USA), Alejandro Ramírez Álvarez (Costa Rica), David Smerdon (Australia), Baadur Jobava (Georgia), Wang Hao and Hou Yifan (China), and Georg Meier (Germany).

Game of the Day (1st Video - Free to all, All Videos - ONLY FREE TO MEMBERS)

Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008
Date		Round	Player Names	ECO	Commentator	GOTD	Podcast (audio & video)
	Thursday, November 13	1	Vallejo Pons Michael Prusikin	A25 English	Larry Christiansen
	Friday, November 14	2	Lubomir Ftacnik Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	A04 Modern Defence	Larry Christiansen
	Saturday, November 15	3	Loek Van Wely Teimour Radjabov	E97 King's Indian	Joel Benjamin
	Sunday, November 16	4	Judit Polgar Andrei Istratescu	C43 Petrov	Joel Benjamin
	Monday, November 17	5	Francisco Vallejo Pons Sergei Azarov	B76 Sicilian	Larry Christiansen
	Wednesday, November 19	6	Hikaru Nakamura Lazaro Bruzon	D16 QGD Slav	Joel Benjamin
	Thursday, November 20	7	David Navara Gilberto Hernandez	A49 King's Indian	Larry Christiansen
	Friday, November 21	8	Vladimir Akopian Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	B90 Sicilian	Ronen Har-Zvi
	Saturday, November 22	9	GM Levon Aronian GM Boris Gelfand	A29 English	Joel Benjamin
	Sunday, November 23	10	Alexei Shirov Veselin Topalov	B12 Caro-Kann	Ronen Har-Zvi
	Tuesday, November 25	11	Alexander Onischuk Pavel Eljanov	D90 Grunfeld	Joel Benjamin

Iturrizaga Wins Corus Satellite Qualifier!

Congratulations to the young Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga, who beat Brazilian GM Alexander Fier to win the Corus 'C' Group satellite qualifier hosted on the Internet Chess Club.

Iturrizaga, 19, won 3-1 in the blitz tiebreakers after two tough draws in the rapid matches, to take the top prize of the Corus C Group invite, round-trip ticket to Amsterdam, Hotel & Breakfast in Wijk aan Zee, plus $1300 appearance fee.

The result of a place in the famous Corus tournament is a dream come true for the young three-time Venezuelan champion, who is a national hero being his country's one and only grandmaster. It also comes on the back of some promising results during the summer for Iturrizaga, who was runner-up (behind Peruvian GM Julio Granada Zuniga) in the 2008 Iberamerican Championship before going on to win the Central America & Caribbean Fide Sub-Zonal.

16-players - selected by Corus, in consultation with ICC - from around the globe originally fought it out in this unique online rapid knockout tournament. And to ensure fair-play for all, at each location and for each match, an independent "proctor" was in place to oversee the proceedings, many of whom being national chess officials, international arbiters, national arbiters and ICC administrators.

¤	1/8 FINAL	1/4 FINAL	1/2 FINAL	FINAL
1 16	GM Alexander Fier (BRA, 2581) 1.5 FM Graham Morrison (SCO, 2328) 0.5	GM Fier 1.5 IM Mekhitarian 0.5	GM Fier 2.5 GM Salgado 1.5	GM Fier 1 GM Iturrizaga 3
8 9	IM Manuel Rodriguez (CUB, 2521) 0 IM Sevak Mekhitarian (BRA, 2511) 2.0	GM Fier 1.5 IM Mekhitarian 0.5
5 12	GM Ivan Salgado (ESP, 2556) 2.5 FM Anish Giri (RUS, 2466) 1.5	GM Salgado 1.5 GM Bluvshtein 0.5
4 13	GM Mark Bluvshtein (CAN, 2557) IM Robert Ris (NED, 2417) bye/no-show	GM Salgado 1.5 GM Bluvshtein 0.5
3 14	GM Georg Meier (GER, 2558) FM Marcus Santo (BRA, 2394) bye/no-show	GM Meier 1.5 IM Robson 0.5	GM Meier 0.5 GM Iturrizaga 1.5
6 11	IM Sanan Sjugirov (RUS, 2549) 2.0 IM Ray Robson (USA, 2466) 3.0	GM Meier 1.5 IM Robson 0.5
7 10	GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN, 2538) IM David Smerdon (AUS, 2470) bye/no-show	GM Iturrizaga 3 GM Safarli 1
2 15	GM Eltaj Safarli (AZE, 2568) 2.0 WGM Dagne Ciuskytev (ENG, 2339) 0	GM Iturrizaga 3 GM Safarli 1

Games in PGN

Corus A Group - The Field of Dreams

The eagerly-awaited announcement of the participants for the Corus A Group has just been released, and Norwegian teenage sensation, Magnus Carlsen, is joined by "old hands" Alexander Morozevich (Russia) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) as top seeds for the 71st edition, which runs from Friday, January 16th to Sunday, February 1st, 2009 in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.

Carlsen won the jubilee event earlier in the year in January along with the Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian, who also returns as one of the main seeds.

Five players will make their debut in the A-group: the young Dutch grandmasters Jan Smeets and Daniel Stellwagen, the sensational Wang Yue from China, who climbed up to the 11th place on the latest world ranking list, the winner of Grandmastergroup B in 2008, Sergei Movsesian, and the flamboyant grandmaster Leinier Dominguez from Cuba (ranked 21st on the FIDE October rating list).

The complete field in the Grandmaster group A:

Alexander Morozevich (Rusland, 2)	2787	1977
Vassily Ivanchuk (Oekraïne, 3)	2786	1969
Magnus Carlsen (Noorwegen, 4)	2786	1990
Levon Aronian (Armenië, 7)	2757	1982
Teymour Radjabov (Azerbeidjan, 8)	2751	1987
Wang Yue (China, 11)	2736	1987
Michael Adams (Engeland, 12)	2734	1971
Sergei Movsesian (Slowakije, 13)	2732	1978
Sergei Karjakin (Oekraïne, 15)	2730	1990
Gata Kamsky (Verenigde Staten, 16)	2729	1974
Leinier Dominguez (Cuba, 21)	2719	1983
Loek van Wely (Nederland)	2618	1972
Daniel Stellwagen (Nederland)	2605	1987
Jan Smeets (Nederland)	2604	1985
Average rating: 2719 Category: 19

Vishy Anand - World Champion #15!

BBC World Service: The title of "World Chess Champion" is up for grabs in Bonn, Germany. The two finalists - from India and Russia - are battling through a 12-Game match.

Anchor Marco Werman gets the latest from reporters Macauley Peterson and Arvind Aaron, who are covering the showdown for the Internet Chess Club.

Congratulations to Vishy Anand of India, who with a draw in game 11 against Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik, won the match 6.5-4.5 to be crowned the undisputed world champion!

Needing to win in a do-or-die situation for Kramnik in game 11, the Russian tried his best to complicate things from the off with a wild main-line Sicilian Najdorf, but Anand was more than a match as he neutralized all the potential dangers to emerge from the complications with an edge, as the game ended in a 24 move draw.

After all the schisms of recent years of rivaling world titles with various different formats from KO to tournament-style events, Anand has emerged as the best and can safely be regarded as World Champion #15 in a heritage line that stretches back to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886.

Name of Player	Game											Total Points
Name of Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total Points
Anand	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	1	1	0.5	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	6.5
Kramnik	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	0	0	0.5	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	4.5

GOTD - latest video - Click to Play

Game of the Day (FREE to all - members and non-members)

World Championship
Date	Round	Host	Commentator	GOTD	Call-In Winners
Tuesday, October 14	1	Mig	Joel Benjamin
Wednesday, October 15	2	Mig	Joel Benjamin
Friday, October 17	3	Mig	Jan Gustafsson
Saturday, October 18	4	Mig	Nick de Firmian
Monday, October 20	5	Ronen Har-Zvi	Jon Speelman
Tuesday, October 21	6	Mig	Larry Christiansen
Thursday, October 23	7	Mig	Ronen Har-Zvi
Friday, October 24	8	Mig	Larry Christiansen
Sunday, October 26	9	Mig	Nick de Firmian
Monday, October 27	10	Mig	Gregory Kaidanov
Wednesday, October 29	11	Mig	Jan Gustafsson

XIII 'New In Chess' Trivia Contest winners

'New in Chess' TRIVIA Contest!

ICC Chess.FM

ICC and New in Chess present The XIII 'New in Chess' Trivia Contest! Tune-in to Mig on ICC Chess.FM for our round-by-round coverage of World Championship match and each round you could win a 1-year subscription to the world's best chess magazine in the New in Chess TRIVIA Contest! For more information and rules, visit our help page.

World Championship '08	ICC 3 months	ICC 6 months	NiC subscription
Game 1	RueeLopaith	trabiwa	FourthDimension
Game 2	Russianbear	pawn111	castlekeep
Game 3	sloper-c	Pyro	Masciarelli
Game 4	finnerik	joesixpack	TAlent
Game 5	Rueelopaith	KoalaDefence	frankgrimes
Game 6	flaneur	bigalster	pollock
Game 7	Jack-ONeill	jim1985	Cornobbled
Game 8	siddhu	Russianbear	AlphaOmega
Game 9	Bort	sly20	PensFan85
Game 10	meangene	TAlent	Kickov
Game 11	Lone-Tiger	Laurentius	chesschallenged

Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest winners

The Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest!

Game of the Day Email Trivia Contest!

ICC Chess.FM

ICC and The House of Staunton present the Game of the Day e-mail trivia, where each day of the world championship match, an ICC member will win the Reykjavik chess set, an exact reproduction of one of the most famous sets ever produced, the set used for the legendary Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Championship Match.

World Championship '08	Winners
Game 1	Darrenov
Game 2	TexasTechU
Game 3	Dondo
Game 4	Gonzo94
Game 5	NaughtyKnight
Game 6	Bill-W
Game 7	KitEEgirl
Game 8	PennyPacker
Game 9	steveire
Game 10	eclectic
Game 11	seattlechess

World Championship Call-In Contest winners

World Championship Call-In Contest!

ICC Chess.FM

ICC and Everyman Chess present World Championship Call-In, where ICC members can leave their questions on Skype, with the best ones aired during the show, and each day a signed copy of the latest book in Garry Kasparov's series on Modern Chess, Kasparov-Karpov 1975-1985, going to the best question!

World Championship '08	Skype Call-In	Listen
Game 1	leitex
Game 2	Lipsome123
Game 3	erectbishop
Game 4	DavidnCT57
Game 5	-
Game 6	bipolarbear
Game 7	Dragon-Ash
Game 8	JOHNGALT
Game 9	grancaruso
Game 10	hangin
Game 11	-

Topalov of the World!

Info on ICC
ICC LIVE Webcam (Off the air)
Official Site bilbaofinalmasters.com

In a dramatic finale to the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao last weekend, Veselin Topalov outplayed Vassily Ivanchuk to not only win the record-breaking $215,000 first prize but also turbo-boost his rating to become the new World #1.

With four wins, five draws and one loss, the Bulgarian proved to be the big in-form player in the richest tournament-ever, as he took the title by a big margin ahead of Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, with the Norwegian teenager taking second place and $100,000 on tiebreak ahead of the Armenian.

The rating surge took Topalov to the top of Hans Arild Runde’s virtual live rating list - and with the official cut-off date for FIDE’s October list falling a few days after Bilbao, this mean Topalov once again tops the official world rankings to be published next week.

But all eyes were also on the opposite end of the table at Bilbao. Vishy Anand slumped big-time to finish last, as he ceded his coveted #1 spot to first Carlsen, Ivanchuk and then Topalov in the same week(!) - not exactly the best of preparations for the world champion with the first defence of his title coming up next month in Bonn, Germany, against challenger Vladimir Kramnik.

Chess.FM had unrivaled coverage throughout Bilbao with Mig Greengard hosting our live coverage each day, supported by his regular GM sidekicks of Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen, Nick de Firmian, Ronen Har-Zvi, Gregory Kaidanov, not to mention our very special guest commentator, four-time Russian champion Peter Svidler. We also had American Chess Journalist of the Year, Macauley Peterson giving us his unique video spin of all the action from Bilbao.

During our live broadcast, there’s also the New In Chess Trivia contest, where each day you could win ICC membership extensions and the top prize of a one year subscription to the best chess magazine in the world, New In Chess! You can view some of the highlights with our special 5 min preview clip from live Chess.FM during Bilbao - click here to discover just what all our members are raving about and what you are missing by not being a member of ICC! The same Chess.FM team, plus more surprise top commentators will be here on ICC giving all our members the best move-by-move action from the “Battle in Bonn”, as Anand and Kramnik square off October 14th to November 2nd in their 12-game, $2 million plus world title match. Why not join all the action here at ICC Chess.FM by signing up for your 7-day trial membership now - don’t delay, sign-up today!

#	PLAYER	LIVE RATING	DIFF.	GAMES	EVENTS	BORN
01	Veselin Topalov	2790.6	+13.6	10	1	1975
02	Alex. Morozevich	2787.0	-1	9	1	1977
03	Magnus Carlsen	2786.1	+11.1	31	3	1990
04	Vassily Ivanchuk	2785.6	+4.6	50	5	1969
05	Vishy Anand	2783.2	-14.8	10	1	1969
06	Vladimir Kramnik	2771.9	-16.1	16	2	1975
07	Levon Aronian	2756.8	+19.8	23	2	1982
08	Teimour Radjabov	2751.5	+7.5	23	2	1987
09	Peter Leko	2746.6	+5.6	16	2	1979
10	Wang Yue	2735.5	+31.5	23	2	1987

RD	DATE	BILBAO GAME-OF-THE-DAY	GM COMMENTATOR
1	9/02	Aronian-Carlsen	Nick de Firmian
2	9/03	Ivanchuk-Carlsen	Ronen Har-Zvi
3	9/04	Carlsen-Topalov	Ronen Har-Zvi
4	9/05	Carlsen-Radjabov	Joel Benjamin
5	9/06	Anand-Carlsen	Nick de Firmian
6	9/08	Preview, Watch (members only)	Peter Svidler
7	9/09	Carlsen-Ivanchuk	Larry Christiansen
8	9/10	Topalov-Carlsen	Joel Benjamin
9	9/12	Ivanchuk-Aronian	Larry Christiansen
10	9/13	Topalov-Ivanchuk	Gregory Kaidanov

XII 'New In Chess' Trivia Contest winners

The XII 'New in Chess' TRIVIA Contest!

ICC Chess.FM

ICC and